It's a period now of potentially massive growth. The limiting factor is water, for most of us. Here we are watering with just one hose and no sprinklers, on half an acre / 2000 m². It takes time but is economical with water, and no dig helps by conserving water, as well as conserving the mycelial and bacterial networks which find moisture for plant roots.

Another limiting factor is how much time you have available for all the jobs arising. Frequently I go into the garden with one job in mind, and end up three hours later having done several things which I noticed needing attention.

This blog was to be short and photo oriented. Yet I feel there's so much I need to explain, that it grew! Don't feel you have to read it all in one go, use it as a resource over the next two weeks.

Good to sow now are carrots, beetroot, dwarf French bean, chicories, endive see video, cauliflower for autumn and broccoli for both autumn and spring (in milder climates), lettuce, salad onions, celery and swede.

New sowings, how long until leaves appear?

It varies according to temperature. Carrots in early spring are 14 days, but at this time of year, 10 days. Parsnips in June are 15 days, see the lettuce photo below. Most brassicas should grow quickly if the seed is viable, within five days.

Also don't cover seeds under cover with too much potting mix. For celery, no covering is good because they need light to germinate.

Good to transplant now are leeks sown April, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage sown May, beetroot sown early June, and more.

Pests, diseases and weeds

Oh joy! For any seedlings that are prone to significant pest damage, I use a mesh cover. Sometimes on hoops but not always.

Brassicas in particular struggle with being eaten by any of insects, rabbits and pigeons. To control caterpillars you can buy Bt on eBay.

See my pests and diseases course for details.

I keep the garden tidy and reduce disease + slug numbers by removing any old or fading leaves, as in the photo below of a courgette / zucchini plant. All vegetables have only a certain number of working leaves which are photosynthesising the most, that's why you can remove lower leaves of tomatoes, cucumbers, and all brassicas, without compromising their growth.

The also increases the success of compost heaps, by ensuring sufficient materials and heat, see below.

Perennial weeds

If these appear, it's vital to keep removing them from both beds and paths. That reduces the vigour of those deeper roots which you cannot remove, and within a year or two, new growth should stop.

Below, I'm holding lesser or hedge bindweed which I have been using a trowel to remove from the soil of my pyramid. It has a lot of bindweed at the moment, now growing through the cardboard laid, and compost spread in April.

Making compost

I have enjoyed the last few weeks for making compost. There is so much raw material now, from clearing broad beans, peas, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and more. Also grass clippings, hedge trimmings, kitchen wastes, urine-soaked hay from the garden toilet, and the neighbour’s weeds!

The heap in these two photos measures 1.8 x 1.5 m / 6 x 5' and can produce over a ton of compost in 6-8 months on average, with one turn. We filled this one in 26 days, starting on the 2nd of June. That's the quickest ever!

See my Compost book for details.

Lettuce finishing

Lettuce sown late February and transplanted at the March equinox, have been picked every week since late April, and some are finally rising to flower. Remove them by twisting rather than pulling, which leaves most roots in the ground and disturbs soil less then if you pull.

The cos lettuce are finishing first, while the batavians continue impressively, in particular Saragossa and Maravilla de Verona.

Problems? Solutions, or not

From the comments I receive, many of you suffer this leaf roll of leaves on tomato plants. It's not a lack of moisture although at first sight, it may seem so. Apparently it's related to wide differences in day and night temperatures, but I suspect there are other factors as well.

I'm noticing that a few varieties are highly susceptible, and others do not show it much. The susceptible ones still give good harvests.

Onions, when are they ready to pull?

The main indicator is that you will see at least half of the tops fallen over. There is no rush on this and some varieties mature earlier, some later.

If grown from sets, they may be earlier. And if they bolt, you need to pull and use them as quickly as possible before the onion flesh turns to woody stem. And you can't keep seeds from bolted plants, they will not have good characteristics!

See the onion growing guide from my Seed to Harvest online course. All of the vegetables I mention here are covered in this course.

Cucumbers under cover

The temperature in my polytunnel it 42°C, 107°F this week and despite me spraying them from the hose twice a day, the tips of some plants burnt off. They simply could not photosynthesise fast enough to maintain full hydration.

So I've pinched any damaged tips off, and allow a sideshoot from below to become the leader.

Another cucumber issue is mosaic virus on some plants. They are proving more difficult than usual this year!

Potatoes

Growth varies hugely here. I’m wondering if my sixth year of saving seed potatoes has reached it’s end point.

Not all potatoes flower before they're ready to harvest. The main sign I look for is leaves turning less green and vigorous.

A big contrast with Desiree from bought seed potato, also planted a month later than the Charlotte and they were less hit by the frost on May 11th.

Are potato flowers worth removing?

I don't think it makes a huge difference, but I have removed the early the flowers from Desiree because it seems very early for them to be at that stage. The idea is that the plant continues to grow for longer, without maturing and stopping soon. But I would not do it on second earlies in June, because they are close to maturity anyway.

Amazing growth

Many factors influence the success of plant growth. I experiment a lot with non-measurable energies, such as from water passing through magnets and five sticks around the property.

I'm sure they make a difference, but it's hard to measure, see my book New Energies for Growing.

Course Testimonial

This lovely feedback is from a 15 year old who recently attended one of my day courses. He has developed a fascination for growing vegetables and it encourages me to read his comment.

I thoroughly enjoyed the course. It was informative and a wonderful day, which had a great flow. Being surrounded by people that enjoy growing as much as I do felt great and I left feeling inspired and eager to start planning! I've now taken on an extra allotment where I will be preparing the space for next year and putting into practice the no dig method. The plot itself needs so much work! 

If you know of any younger people keen to grow, please direct them to our Future Gardeners newsletter. You can sign up on the homepage of my website.

For any of you running a project with groups of children, I'm happy to consider a grant for helping with start-up costs such as buying compost. Please use the email on this newsletter to contact me.

We have one course day with places, on 15th August.

Shipping to the EU

Just yesterday, we made the decision to stop shipping, any products to the EU, because of the incredible raft or customs and import duties, which keep increasing and proliferating. Previously,, we made a decision to absorb the tax as opposed to setting up something on Shopify where customers get charged upfront. We have just received the first few surcharge statements and they are shockingly high

I'm very sorry about this, and don't want to lose this connection to Europe, but we have no choice. Check out Saxo in Denmark and Blue Tiger in the Netherlands for stockists of my products, available to Europe.

Growing in Cornwall

A land opportunity, from Adie and Gill in Cornwall

After 5 years here, we are not using all the glasshouse space (formerly Gweek Nurseries) and so we've put out this opportunity. Please have a quick look at the link, and forward it to any interested party (or email/ask me questions)